Can't Stop Dyeing

It wasn't how I needed to spend a Saturday afternoon, but it was the first Saturday afternoon I had to myself in several months, and by golly, I'm dyeing to spend it!!!


I actually started the first portion of this project a couple of weeks ago. I'd brought in five of my avocado pit and skin dyes in September prior to our first frost, hoping if they stewed a bit longer, I could eke more color from them. Some of these jars have provided four or five dips already.

My amaryllises are going nuts and all beginning to bloom, and I didn't have window space for the dyes anymore. Those cumbersome jars had to go.


So I wound four hanks of crochet thread and strained every last one of the jars. The fifth and darkest dye jar got a pair of cotton socks about a month ago, when I first started pulling the amaryllises out of the basement, one by one, one each week so the staggered blooms would last as long as I could make them. I poured the sock jar contents into my dye pot, which I left on the floor in the garage. I can't solar dye outside anymore because the jars would freeze every single night. There have been days when the dyes wouldn't have thawed in the sun because our highs have been in the 'teens. (We've also had a few unseasonable 60s, and boy, are those refreshing!)

I let the thread soak in the dyes in the jars on the floor in the kitchen for a whole week. Each night when I got home from work, I nuked each jar in the microwave for one minute. I totally forgot about the socks until last weekend. The socks had survived the deep freeze cycle, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Saturday, I strained the socks and the threads so I could reclaim my garage and kitchen floors.


The thread colors aren't as dark as I'd hoped, but I LOVE the new earthy shades, especially that pastel pink!




And check out the socks!!! Oh, my! Perhaps I should let some thread in avocado dye freeze in the garage a couple of times to see what happens!




I was so tickled with the range of colors, even though the threads are so pastel, I couldn't contain my curiosity any longer. Four of the avocados I bought about a month ago had a lot of visible red hue in the skin. Surely these skins would produce some awesome reds or pinks, right?


I typically do not save skins during the winter because I don't know if they would produce color after being frozen, like what I get from the pits after five months in the freezer. And I don't have window space to solar soak the skins while the amaryllises are craving sunshine. These red-toned avocados, however, presented more temptation than I could resist. Surely I could make space for just one little jar...


This is four avocado skins. They've soaked in the window in the sun for just about three weeks. I wound one more hank of crochet thread and strained the new avocado skin dye, then just about floated out of the atmosphere when I saw the color on the thread!!!






I'm going to let this thread soak for another week. I don't know if the final color will be this rich, but oh, can I dream!

If I do get such rich color from this batch of skins, I think I will buy a bunch more avocados and try to make another batch of dye after the amaryllises are done, and perhaps I can darken up my avocado dress next summer!!! Oh, how heavenly that would be!!!


While I was cleaning up the avocado dye mess, I decided I should go ahead and discard the first set of professional dyes I mixed, perhaps ten years ago. They've been patiently waiting to be used in the basement all this time. I learned after the first couple of dye sessions that professional dyes weaken with age and that my bottles probably wouldn't produce any lasting color after about three months. But I couldn't bring myself to throw them out. They were all very small bottles, the one-ounce travel bottles available in grocery and department stores.

As I began to collect the very aged dyes, I decided it wouldn't hurt to try using them. If the colors don't stick, no big deal; I can overdye. I dug out a PFD remnant from my snow-dyeing days and then decided a pair of socks might be fun, too. I mordanted the cotton in soda ash with salt, then laid out the dyeables on the rocks in the backyard and squirted away.


I then nuked the fabric and socks for 30 seconds, then laid them out in the basement. I didn't have any idea what they would look like after washing, but perhaps it would be a fun little waste of time.

I opened the washer expecting to find such pastel colors, they could pass as white. I am SO glad I didn't just toss the dyes! I'm so glad I gave them the chance to show their stuff! The greens and blues are pretty pale, but this turned out far better than I expected!


I then decided I could make room on one window sill for a few small dye jars. I wound eight more hanks of crochet thread, then prepared my little stackable plastic ice cream jars with a rainbow of colors.






These will get to soak for a week, also. I'm hoping for more gradients to replace what I've almost used up. I love crocheting with gradient or variegated thread I've dyed myself and watching the color changes between stitches. One of my favorite things to do on the commuter train!






Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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My Dyeing Days

The kids' avocado pit-dyed T-shirts came out awesome, and the kids LOVE them and couldn't wait to try them on!

My avocado-dyed dress is a little lighter than I hoped, but I still like it, and I will get a lot of use out of it this winter.

I got it ready to wear Sunday... I was asked to speak at church. Yikes!!!


My dress was a hit. I was a little uncomfortable with the size of the neck opening, so I used my avocado-pit dyed crochet thread to extend coverage. Then I wore the dress to work on Wednesday. Once again, it was a hit. My co-workers thought I'd bought the collar! Lizard thinks it looks Egyptian!


I decided I need a scrunchie to match. So I made one with the avocado pit-dyed cotton yarn and a piece of elastic while I was on the train Wednesday.




Then I decided I need avocado pit-dyed socks to match. I can't wear heals anymore at all. So I try to dress up my dresses with cycling socks and supportive athletic shoes.


I checked out the dyeables at Dharma Trading and discovered they also have men's ties... I asked Lizard if he would like a tie to match my dress.

"Can you do that?" he asked.

So I ordered socks, a tie and a package of bandanas. And shoe laces. I could have ordered a bag, too, but I decided I'd rather make one!

Then I thought perhaps I need a floppy hat...

Is there any such thing as too much avocado pit-dye???


My current plan is to bring in the glass avocado pit dye jars prior to the first freeze (which is now forecast for next week) and leave them near my living room window through the winter. I'm hoping the dye will develop a nice, rich tone that I can use on another dress next summer, which I plan to let solar cook all summer long. I want that deep cinnamon color!


The onion skin-dyed T-shirt turned out much better than I anticipated. I sort of expected more rust- or orange-tone than I got. I am so pleased with the rose tone I got instead!




One more fat quarter turned out awesome, too. I couldn't resist sticking one more fat quarter in the dye. But now I'm officially ready to get some piecing done...


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My Dyeing Days

My favorite color is blue, but avocado pits and skins have to be some of my favorite hand-dyed colors. I've dyed so many gorgeous shades this summer!

Temptation won, and I stuck the onion skin-dyed T-shirt and the hollyhock-dyed T-shirt into the avocado pit dye. I don't know yet exactly what I will get, but neither overdyed shirt will embarrassingly change colors under my arms on hot summer days. Or hot fall days... Plus, the shades of red rock are much more complimentary to my skin and hair color. Ha ha!


I also stuck my wood shavings-tinted cotton yarn into the avocado pit dye. I dyed but never wound this mess all summer long at least two or three years ago. Although the off-white shades were nice, well, temptation swept me off my feet once again.


Wood is a mordant, and avocado doesn't necessarily need a mordant, so I didn't have to do anything to the yarn but stick it in the avocado dye, which is about a fifth dip now. The colors will be pastel, but there will be more color than the wood gave. The following photos will show the difference in wet colors and dry colors. Dry colors will always be two to three shades lighter than the wet color. I dry the yarn (not in direct sunlight) after dyeing to help set the color.


dry cotton yarn after one week in avocado pit dye, fifth dip


wet prior to wash


wet after wash


dry and wound
I have some really nice shades of cotton and wool yarn and cotton thread to use up this winter. I think it takes almost as long to wind an overdyed tangled mess as it does to solar dye it!!! Four hours to wind those last two hanks!


I stuck one more fat quarter in a jar of avocado pit dye, too.


Finally, it was time to take my cotton dress out of the avocado pit dye. I allowed the dress to solar soak in the dye for nearly four weeks. I then wrung it out, poured the (cooled) dye into the flower garden, and hung the dress (not in direct sunlight) to dry until it would no longer drip (because the avocado dye can stain concrete)(and rock paths, for that matter, but we don't mind if the stepping stones get dark spots), then moved it into the garage to finish drying. The dress was a little stiff when I stuck it in the washer (that's normal), but our lavender Meyer's Clean Day detergent and dryer sheets will take care of that. The final product will be a softer color than this, and that breaks my heart, but I've decided I'm going to do this again next summer, and a new dress (maybe even short-sleeved...) will go in the dye first, and I won't take it out until I get this rich, delicious cinnamon color!






My little neighbors saw me stirring my long-sleeved cotton dress and excitedly joined me, wanting to help. I decided to pick up a couple of little white T-shirts the next day at Michael's, scour them (washing them with Borax and not drying them), then make the kids a dye jar of their own.

They were SO excited!


They came over every afternoon to stir their jar after school. I had planned for today's blog post to be the final installment of my online summer natural dye workshop because we could get an overnight freeze at any point now, and it could come without warning. I want to give the newly dipped T-shirts a chance to absorb some good color, plus, one of my little neighbors has been under the weather and unable to wring out one of the shirts. So we are waiting until good health returns so the siblings can work together. If we do get a forecast for an overnight freeze, I will pull all the jars indoors and park them near the living room window, which gets pretty good sun in the mornings.


I will show off my newest dress, the overdyed shirts and the kid's shirts in one week when I wrap up this year's natural dye adventure! See you then!



Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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My Dyeing Days

After weeks of watching my yarn and thread simmer in avocado pit dye, I am finally ready to crochet! Just look at the luscious colors!


After letting all four hanks of yarn and one hank of size 10 crochet thread simmer for... I think it was about four weeks, but the most important thing is they soaked in the sun for a good long while. I strained the dye out into the flower garden (after the fluids cooled off, of course - no sense in boiling the sunflower roots!) and hung the hanks to dry (out of direct sunlight and where drips wouldn't stain the concrete). Two days later, I shampooed the yarn and thread, one hank at a time, with strawberry Suave (because it's cheap and smells good), then conditioned all, one hank at a time, with strawberry Suave, then hung the hanks to drip dry.

And now I have this luscious fiber just waiting to be wound into balls and then knitted or crocheted into something fabulous. Of course, I had to wind (and use) the thread first.






The polyester/cotton blend worsted yarn did not come out bad! I do believe there's a bit of stain on the polyester!!!




My fat quarters have been washed (in the washing machine with gentle lavender detergent) and dried (no heat in the dryer). I am very pleased with how they look. I'm excited to find the perfect quilt block pattern to experiment with them!






I have at least two more weeks of solar dyeing, according to the 10-day forecast. I still have pigment in my avocado pit jars. The avocado skins dye is incredibly dark. I might overdye one (or maybe even both) of the onion skin-dyed T-shirts (because then they wouldn't change colors under my arms when I perspire). I almost stuck them in a dye jar last weekend, but when I pulled them out of the box where they've been hiding the last couple of months, the shade still looks very attractive. I just have to keep in mind the shade will continually shift. They will look better in avocado... They will look better in avocado... They will look better in avocado...


I strained all of the dye out of all of the jars except the dark red pits on the right into a (clean) plastic pretzel jar, then filled the jars with rainwater one more time. I dunked the long-sleeved white cotton dress I bought from Dharma Trading in the jar. I stir this two or three times a day. It's been in the sun for a whole week now. I'm anxious to see what color the dress will be, but I think I'll leave it in there until the first overnight freeze. I'd like to get as dark a hue of that gorgeous reddish brown as I can get. The final color will be worth waiting for, I'm sure.






Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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